Battery modules or systems comprise rechargeable electrical energy storage devices, which are in widespread use in portable consumer goods and other applications, such as for example in partially or exclusively electrically driven motor vehicles. In automotive applications, battery modules and systems, and in particular lithium-ion battery modules or systems, are considered to be a key technology for electrifying the drive system of vehicles. For this purpose, battery modules and systems that have high capacities, preferably capacities of not less than 2 or 3 Ah, are needed. Such high-capacity battery modules and systems, and in particular lithium-ion battery modules and systems, are also constructed in a modular manner, according to the specification for their use, and comprise a plurality of battery cells electrically interconnected in series or parallel.
Among the important aspects for this technology to become successfully established is that these battery modules or systems can be produced at low cost and efficiently. A further aspect is that these battery modules or systems are as lightweight as possible, so that motor vehicles fitted with them and/or driven by them are restricted as little as possible in their performance capability.
Battery modules or systems described in the prior art, in particular high-capacity lithium-ion battery modules or systems, are produced by elaborate methods in which the individual components are usually in a form in which they are multiply packaged, in order to make adequate fixing, sealing and/or insulation of the constituent parts possible. As a result, the battery modules and systems obtained are expensive, inefficient to produce and relatively heavy.